Dropwater

Drop Water (Dropwater) develops self-service hydration kiosks that filter and dispense water on site, with options for chilled, ambient, sparkling and hot water plus flavors and functional "boosts." Its current product, the Drop Refill, is a free-standing station on casters measuring 68 inches high, 18 inches wide and 19 inches deep, occupying about 2.5 square feet. It requires only power, an incoming 3/8-inch water connection and wireless internet, with an optional drain line. Each unit holds up to ten 472-serving flavor boxes and up to 20 lbs of CO2, and can be configured with or without hot water (165F-190F), with a drip tray or drain line, and as a free amenity or a paid, per-serving dispenser [0][1].

The machines are internet-connected and paired with a client dashboard for inventory levels and order data, plus a consumables ordering platform for restocking. Servicing and restocking require no tools, and the unit runs a self-sterilizing cycle. When fitted with a payment terminal, the station accepts contactless (NFC) cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, EMV chip cards and magstripe; Stripe is the recommended all-in-one card reader, processing and payout solution, with operators keeping the revenue from drinks sold [0][1].

Flavor offerings are proprietary to Drop Water and cannot be substituted by customers. The line includes options such as Mint Mojito, Pomegranate Acai, Peach Tea, Blackberry, Passion Orange Guava, Orange + Vitamin C, Strawberry Kiwi, Raspberry Lychee, Yuzu Ginger, unsweetened Lime, Grapefruit, Triple Berry and Peach Mango, Lemonade, Tropical Energy and Tea + Lemonade, alongside boosts for hydration electrolytes, Cognizin brain boost, a vitamin blend and caffeine. Flavors are sweetened with monkfruit, use potassium sorbate as a preservative, and several caffeinated options are offered [0][2]. An earlier product generation bottled and sealed filtered water on demand at kiosks called Drop Stations, using compostable or recyclable packaging rather than transporting bottled water [5][6]. A second product line, the Drop Duo, was introduced alongside the company's Series A [4].

Founding story

The company grew out of CEO Scott Edwards's senior project at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he studied industrial technology and packaging; he had previously led the robotics team at Pinewood School. The original concept was a machine dispensing reusable bottles that consumers could return to any station, but consumer resistance to shared bottles led the team to switch to compostable bottles. As of 2018 four Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduates were working on the product from a Menlo Park garage [5].

Business model

Drop Water sells or leases hydration stations to commercial site operators and supplies the recurring flavor and boost consumables and CO2 through its own ordering platform. Pricing is quoted per deployment and depends on unit count, configuration and whether the machine is leased or purchased; financing options are offered. Sites can run the machine as a free employee or guest amenity or charge per serving, setting their own price and keeping the revenue [0][1].

Hardware sale or lease of Drop Refill stations plus repeat sales of consumables (flavor and boost boxes, CO2) ordered via the company's consumables platform [0][1].

Traction

Testimonials on the company site reference deployments at offices, a commercial club space, ACI Jet SLO and San Jose Airport, where a property manager stated SJC was placing four new machines throughout the terminal in 2024; one office reported over 160 gallons dispensed in the first two weeks [1][2]. In 2018 the company said it would install two kiosks at San Jose Airport and targeted 100 installations at airports and college campuses within a year [5].

Latest developments

In June 2025 the company announced the launch of a crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine [4]. Its site markets the Drop Refill configurator with hot-water, paid-vending and drain-line options and Stripe-based payments [0][1].